13 MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2026 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | SPORTS & RECREATION | SHOPPING & SERVICES | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | MUSIC & VENUES | FOOD & DRINK | W ® E D I T O R I A L Editor Patricia Calhoun News Editor Thomas Mitchell Food and Drink Editor Molly Martin Music Editor Emily Ferguson Culture Editor Kristen Fiore Social Media Editor Katrina Leibee Staff Writers Bennito L. 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Peri- odicals postage paid in Denver. Domestic subscriptions may be purchased for $100/year or $50/six months. Postmaster: Send address changes to Westword, P.O. Box 5970, Denver CO 80217. Mailing address: P.O. Box 5970, Denver, CO 80217 Street address: 1278 Lincoln Street, Denver, CO 80203 For general information, call: 303-296-7744 For Editorial, email: [email protected] 133 CONCERTS/CLUBS VOLUME 49 NUMBER 30 MARCH 26-APRIL 1, 2026 ON THE COVER ILLUSTRATION BY HATTIE BOYD Still High on the Mile High THE BEST OF DENVER IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS. WHILE I’M NO BEGINNER, THIS IS MY LAST ONE. BY PATRICIA CALHOUN The Best of Denver is not for beginners. If you’ve lived in the metro area for more than a month, you’ve discovered the wonder of seeing the Continental Divide as you head up Interstate 70, the joy of catching the sunset from the steps of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and the blinding amaze- ment of watching the sunrise from the top of Red Rocks. You’ve found your favorite coffee shop, the most convenient place to park if you’re headed to Ball Arena, the most relaxing place to take a walk if you need a “work- from-home” break. Since we published the fi rst Best of Denver in 1984, we’ve shared all of these and more, a plethora of prizes that today number more than 16,000...and counting. Fresh Ideas Last year, we came up with our best idea yet: We decided it was time to bring fresh eyes to the art in this annual issue. Work- ing with the Visual Arts department at the College of Arts & Media at the University of Colorado Denver — a school in the heart of the city that the Best of Denver celebrates — we designed a student contest to create the 2025 Best of Denver cover art. We had only two rules: the entry had to somehow express the city, and AI could not be used in its production (we’re celebrating original- ity and excellence, after all). Oh, and if the illustration happened to contain a cow, all the better. (Back when the Best of Denver concept was born, city boosters were very concerned that Denver was still considered a cowtown, “Omaha with mountains.” In true alt-weekly fashion, we decided it was our mission to mock these mooovers and shak- ers, and a cow — or bull, steer or something in between — became a fi xture of the Best of Denver cover art.) The results of that initial contest were so spectacular that we devoted not just the cover, but our section openers (and our art budget) to student winners. So this year, we again partnered with the College of Arts & Media on a Best of Denver contest, and the results were just as spectacular. In fact, this year’s cover artist, Hattie Boyd, took top prize after creating the work that graced the Cannabis & More section last year. Boyd’s father was in the military, and the family moved around a lot before settling in Colorado Springs, where she grew up. After initially enrolling at Colorado State University, she transferred to the University of Colorado Denver for its 3-D graphics and animation program. “I knew I wanted to do art,” she says. And she’s defi nitely doing that: Boyd was in her fi rst year at the school when she snagged a spot as a fi nalist in the 2025 Best of Denver contest. “I saw a fl ier,” she recalls, “and it was fun to see what I could create. I looked at old covers and took inspiration from them; they’re all so great.” This year, she took inspiration from J.C. Leyendecker, the artist who created more than 322 pieces for the Saturday Evening Post, and decided to play off the idea of a cow jumping over the moon. “It’s overused,” she admits, “but I liked the idea so much.” She liked playing up the urban aspect, too, she says, since so much of the art you see in Denver is “always about the mountains.” She took more time with this piece, she says, and it shows; the work is so detailed that some people wonder if she used AI. “There are a lot of challenges,” she acknowledges. “You want to make something perfect, but you don’t want to have people accusing you of using generative AI. The fact that I know I made it is good enough for me. AI can never replicate what people do.” For proof, she points to Leyendecker’s work, and how all the brushstrokes are evident when you look. “You know it’s made by humans,” she points out. Boyd spends a lot of time looking at art. “Even though it’s going to be my job, I do it in my free time,” she says. She likes looking at the murals around town and the shows at the Emmanuel Gallery. When you go to school at Auraria, there’s always plenty to see. “I really like the campus because it’s combined with different campuses, but you can also walk around downtown,” she notes. “There are a lot of opportunities.” And that includes the opportunity to take public transit...to home in Broomfi eld, to visit her family in Colorado Springs. “Even when I’m on the bus, traffi c is always so terrible, which is why I included this,” she says. “It’s a big part of Denver.” So are talented creatives like Hattie Boyd, and the other University of Colorado stu- dents whose work is showcased in the pages that follow. This Isn’t Goodbye This is my last Best of Denver; on July 1, I’ll be retiring. Know that Westword will be left in excellent hands with our current editorial staff and leadership. And this isn’t goodbye; I’ll remain on as editor emeritus, contributing a regular column and helping prepare for another big anniversary: West- word’s fi ftieth, on September 1, 2027. The best is yet to come! In the meantime, I’ll be sharing more about my time here at Westword and writing the stories I’ve been meaning to get to when I wasn’t distracted by cranky politicians and big protests and projects like the Best of Denver. I’ll also be digging into a couple of side obsessions: Colorado Music Hall of Fame, which just turned fi fteen, and the much more elderly World’s Wonder View Tower, a roadside attraction that I and a crew of history-loving Denver cronies bought a decade ago because we didn’t want to see another Colorado Classic wiped off the map. It turns a hundred this summer. Come up and see me sometime!
